This invention relates to image recording apparatuses such as copiers, and more particularly to a jamming detecting and displaying device in such an apparatus which detects and displays the jamming of a sheet-shaped image recording material which may occur during the conveyance or image recording operation.
A variety of image recording apparatuses using a sheet-shaped image recording material have been proposed in the art. In the apparatuses, a plurality of treatments are given to the image recording material to record an image thereon. In the case where a number of processing steps are required for the image recording operation, it is unavoidable that a relatively long path is required for conveyance of the image recording material. Accordingly, the number of positions where the image recording material may be jammed is increased. Therefore, in such apparatus, a plurality of image-recording-material detecting sensors are arranged along the image-recording-material conveying path to identify the location of the jamming of the image recording material. For instance when the jamming of the image recording material is detected by the sensors, the location of the jamming is displayed on the operating panel so that the jamming can be identified easily and readily eliminated.
Such a simple system is inadequate in the case of an image recording apparatus in which the image recording process is intricate and, accordingly, the image treating means and the image-recording-material conveying means are complicated. Even when the image recording material is jammed at only one position, several different operations are required to eliminate the jamming. Moreover, the operator cannot readily eliminate the jamming, using the available jamming eliminating members in the machine (i.e., knobs and levers that are operative to clear a jam or expose the path for manual clearing) without knowing the jamming eliminating procedure. Furthermore in the case where the jamming eliminating members are not assigned respectively to the positions where the jamming may occur, and in the case where the jamming eliminating members are operated in a preferred sequence or combination in order to eliminate the jamming at different positions, it is difficult for the operator to correctly select the jamming eliminating members to be used for elimination of the jamming. In short, the jamming cannot be readily eliminated.